Speaking to the official Villa website, Thompson, who played for Villa in the 1980’s, believes that Sherwood is similar to Paul Hart, who used to turn out for Leeds and Sheffield Wednesday.

Thompson said: “He was a leader in the dressing room and a leader out there on the pitch. He wouldn't be shy to tell me at 28: "Get on with it!" or "Get your foot in Garry!”. As a bloke he reminds me a lot of Paul Hart at Sheffield Wednesday. Tim was a bit like that. It was great to see and witness. He was just so desperate to win. He wanted his team to win. He hated losing.”

Sherwood was a captain when he was a player, displaying his leadership qualities from a young age at Watford, before retaining those traits when becoming a coach.

He showed at Spurs last season that he was willing to get stuck into his players if needed, and Villa looked to have received a major motivational boost when he was named head coach this term.

Sherwood is often derided for his lack of technical abilities as a manager, and his rather naive ‘English’ reading of the game, but that is only due to his classic man management abilities.

He is arguably one of the best motivators in the entire Premier League, and that takes away from his other qualities - even if they are not outstanding.

Sherwood may never be a top class manager, and he has yet to prove himself for longer than one season in a head coach role, but he has all the talents to keep impressing - and Villa are set to be the beneficiaries.

Billy Hawkins

Billy is a freelance writer who contributes to various sites concerning football. Known to possess an obsession with statistics, Eastern European club sides, and Victorian football, he focuses upon the untapped potential of the Football League in the belief it is more enjoyable than the Premier League.